Camden Streets - Burns Street

Streets
of
Camden, NJ

Burns Street

Burns STREET was in Camden's Poet's Row neighborhood. The three blocks of houses that came to be known as Poet's Row first appear in the Camden City Directory of 1890-1891. Named for famous figures of English literature, the streets ran east and west from North 2nd Street, north of Erie Street. The first street north of Erie was Byron Street, followed by Burns Street and Milton Street. Only a few homes are noted in the 1890-1891 directory on Burns Street, at either end of the block, and only the 200 block is listed. This would indicate that Byron was built first, from the ends in, then Burns, and lastly Milton Street. A 300 block of Byron was built later, and also a 500 block of Byron.

North Camden in the 1890s offered many employment opportunities. Camden's industries were booming, and entrepreneurs came to Camden to set up shop. The new houses were snapped up mostly by tradesmen and skilled workers, with more than a few taking advantage of the short walks to the Vine Street and Shackamaxon ferries to commute back and forth to Philadelphia. The builder also made provisions for corner stores so the residents could shop conveniently. The sidewalks, like many of that era, were brick, and the streets were paved with cobblestone.

The Poet's Row neighborhood remained a vibrant place for decades, until, of course, after World War II, when the jobs began to leave North Camden. Perhaps it was poetic, with no pun intended, that the disaster that destroyed Poet's Row occurred when a recently closed factory building caught fire; the fire spreading to the homes, and in one hellish night destroying Milton Street, Burns Street, and the north side of Byron Street, where only two homes at the east end of the block, 241 and 243 Byron Street, were saved. Burns Street was no more. When dawn broke on August 24, 1972 Burns Street was gone.

Do you have an Burns Street memory or picture. Let me know by e-mail so it can be included here.

Phil Cohen
Saturday, August 02, 2008

Camden NJ - 1914
Burns Street is the second northernmost street in North Camden on this map

Unit Block of Burns Street
	200 Burns Street 1929 Charles Edwards 1947 Hughbert J. Crossett
	201 Burns Street 1947 Vacant
	202 Burns Street 1947 Max Feldestein
	203 Burns Street 1947 Daniel H. Webster
	204 Burns Street 1947 Raymond A. Seth 1969 R.W. Williams
	205 Burns Street 1947 William F. Evans
	206 Burns Street 1929 Peter L. Walter 1947 George P. Morris
	207 Burns Street 1947 Mrs. Catherine Turner
	208 Burns Street 1929-1947 Gregory Worona
	209 Burns Street 1947 Mrs. Sarah H. Walter
	210 Burns Street 1929 Albert Gelser 1947 Willard H. Hatcher
	211 Burns Street 1947 Harry C. Emore
	212 Burns Street 1947 Mrs. Margaret M. DeHart
	213 Burns Street 1930 Maude MacIntosh 1933 Leo O'Brien 1947 William Hilbmann Jr.
	214 Burns Street 1929 Horace H. Dolson 1947 Edwin L. Sutton
	215 Burns Street 1947 George E. Hillary trucking
	216 Burns Street 1947 Mrs. Annie Mallen
	217 Burns Street 1929 Walter Reighn 1947 William T. Sweeten
	218 Burns Street 1929 Abraham Feldstein
CAMDEN WOMAN DIES ON WAY TO SEE SISTER Burlington, June 15.-A Camden woman, who was on her way to visit a sister here tonight, died in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Vernon, 6 Delaware Avenue, who befriended her when she was stricken. The woman was Mrs. Harry Dounch of 218 Burns Street, Camden. She was on her way to visit Mrs. Edward White of St. Mary's Street.	218 Burns Street 1933 Harry & Margaret Dounch Camden Courier-Post June 16, 1933
	218 Burns Street 1947 Frederick A. Sevick
	219 Burns Street 1947 Clifford Stevens 1965 For Sale, Asking $1500
	220 Burns Street 1929 Lansing Cowley 1947 William H. Blank
	221 Burns Street 1947 Edward Sheppard
	222 Burns Street 1929 Charles W. Rumbol 1947 Thomas Edmondson
	223 Burns Street 1947 John Tuminia
	224 Burns Street 1947 Mrs. Victoria Johnson
	225 Burns Street 1900s-1910s John Winstanley & Family Thomas Winstanley 1947 Louis A. Hambrose
	226 Burns Street 1929 Mrs. Anna M. Powell 1947 Mrs. Maude MacIntosh
	227 Burns Street 1929 Mrs. Elizabeth Healey 1947 John Barber
	228 Burns Street 1906 Mrs. Sarah Tydeman 1906 Vincent A. Tydeman 1947 Granville R. Guthridge
	229 Burns Street 1929 John H. Purkey 1947 Mrs. Eva Logan
	230 Burns Street 1947 Mrs. Mary Reath 1969 Mrs. Aloma Painter
	231 Burns Street 1947 Michael J. Besso 1965 For Sale, Asking $1500
	232 Burns Street 1929 John M. Carley 1930s John Winstanley & Family Thomas Winstanley 1947 James W. Smith
	233 Burns Street 1947 Elizabeth Condell
	234 Burns Street 1890-1891 John Schimpf 1947 Mrs. Mary E. Johnson
	235 Burns Street 1947 Lillie D. Carbaugh
	236 Burns Street 1929 Sylvester Hampton 1947 Harold M. Sheff
	237 Burns Street 1929 John R. Koch 1947 Michael M. Choma
	238 Burns Street 1947 Isaac Niemi
	239 Burns Street 1929 Henry G. Murphy 1947 Mrs. Pearl G. Moeller
	240 Burns Street 1929 Mrs. Edith M. Stretch confectionary 1929 Ellis Stretch 1947 Mrs. Sarah Walter
	241 Burns Street 1928 Mrs. Rosie Speller 1947 Arthur W. Jeanes
	242 Burns Street 1947 Richard Wagner 1969 E. Fleming
	243 Burns Street 1929 Charles W. Norris 1947 Henry M. Urban
	244 Burns Street 1947 No return
	245 Burns Street 1929 Mrs. Gussie Hampton 1947 No return
	246 Burns Street 1924 Earl Stopfer 1947 Mrs. Mamie B. Grover
	247 Burns Street 1947 No return
	248 Burns Street 1929 Albert Vanderhaggen 1947 Mrs. Adelaide Helfer
	249 Burns Street 1947 Joseph T. Bond
	250 Burns Street 1929 Mrs. Elizabeth Frew 1947 Charles D. Phillips
	251 Burns Street 1930 Raymond Seth 1933 William Bolopue huckster 1947 Leonard C Beecher
	252 Burns Street 1929 William Lucy 1933 Mrs. Mae Bard 1947 Gone
	253 Burns Street 1924 John Havlick (dead by 1930) 1933 Mrs. Mary Havlick 1933 Albert Weller & Family Albert Weller & Jessie Havlick Weller Albert Weller Russell Weller Doris Weller Camden Courier-Post June 3, 1933
	253 Burns Street 1947 Dan Hinkle

Camden Courier-Post - June 3, 1933

TWINS, BABY SISTER SAVED FROM FIRE
Father and Great Grandmother Carry Children from Blazing Shed

Twin brothers, 5, and their sister, 9 months, were rescued yesterday from their North Camden home by their father, and great-grandmother from a fire caused by the upsetting of a flaming bucket of gasoline into which a lighted match had been thrown.

The blaze, in a rear shed of the home of Mrs. Mary Havlick, 74, of 253 Burns Street, great-grandmother of the children, also ignited the adjoining dwelling of William Bolopue, a huckster, at 251 Burns Street. The Bolopue family was not at home. The fire occurred shortly after 11 a. m.

Albert Weller, the father of the children and grandson of Mrs. Havlick, told firemen that the fire started after he had carelessly tossed a lighted match into a pail of gasoline which he had drained from his automobile in the rear of the house.

When Weller tried to extinguish the blaze in the pail, he told firemen, he stumbled over and upset it. The flames caught afire the shed at the rear of the house.

Slamming shut the shed door to cut off the draft, Weller seized his twin boys, Russell and Albert, Jr., Mrs. Havlick snatched the baby, Doris, from a high chair. The grandmother and her grandson took the children to the home of a neighbor, Mrs. Mae Bard, 252 Burns Street.

Meanwhile, someone had sent in a fire alarm, and firemen arrived in time to put out the fire in both houses before much damage resulted.

During the blaze, Mrs. Jessie Weller, mother of the children, was visiting the headquarters of the Emergency Relief Administration to apply for more food for her babies.

Fire Started in the former John R. Evans Co. leather factory, a block long factory building at North 2nd and Erie Streets in North Camden on a hot summer night, August 23, 1972. Inadequate water pressure, combined with a stiff breeze from the south indicated that there was trouble ahead. The first responding Fire Company, Engine Company 6, sounded the Second Alarm upon arrival.

Pandemonium in Poets Row as residents attempt to hurriedly evacuate homes of furnishings as the conflagration took off. High winds and flying embers, combined with the intense radiant heat created fire storm conditions. The Fire Companies arriving on the scene in response to the Greater Alarms entered the Poets Row streets to find everything burning- buildings, trees, fences, parked cars, and telephone poles. Live electrical wires were down and arcing everywhere.

The 200 Block of Burns Street, as seen form North 3rd Street. The photos of Engine Company 3 doing everything it could with its deck pipe and hand-held hose to cutoff the rapidly spreading fire. In the early stages of the fire Engine Companies often found themselves alone on an entire block, desperately trying to make a stand while awaiting reinforcements. Several units, driven back by the intense fire, would disconnect from the fire hydrants, fall back to the next hydrant further down the street, only to be driven back once again as the fire continued to spread. Engine Company 3 operated by itself for nearly one half-hour until assisted by a subsequent mutual aid fire company.

Ruins of original fire building and surrounding neighborhood at Poets Row, North Camden, in the aftermath of the worst conflagration in the history of the Camden Fire Department.

Looking East on the 200 block of Burns Street on the day after the fire.

Engine Company 3 stands in stark contrast with the devastation surrounding an area of four square city blocks. Ten alarms with aid from fire departments outside of Camden and over two hundred firefighters worked for eight hours before bringing the fire under control. Forty-two homes and the original John R. Evans factory building, where the fire started, completely collapsed, and an additional thirty houses were severely damaged. Hundreds of Poets Row residents lost everything. Although there were scores of injuries to both firefighters and civilians, miraculously all were minor in nature.

POET'S ROW - The 200 Block of Byron Street - July 5, 2004
	Looking East from North 2nd & Byron Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	214, 212, 210 Byron Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	Remaining homes on the South Side 200 Block of Byron Street Click on Image to Enlarge
	Looking West from North 3rd & Byron Street Click on Image to Enlarge